


To Venus, From Mars

by orphan_account



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Female Kim Joonmyun | Suho, Fluff, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:38:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9183934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: John Gray says that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Minseok doesn’t feel like an alien, but there’s definitely a reason his efforts aren’t getting through.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Fem!Suho/Tao/Kris/Sehun
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone except the story. 
> 
> Crossposted on LJ as part of the SNCJ Secret Santa fic exchange. Also posted on AFF.

Really, Minseok should have known better than to take his friends’ advice where women were concerned. For one thing Minseok’s friends—Luhan, who’s self-absorption was so extensive that he had the observational skills of a rock, and Jongdae and Baekhyun, who were not only gay but also had been dancing around each other for ages—rarely took anything seriously; for another, their collective dating experience was practically non-existent. Ironically, it was actually Minseok, the renowned campus Casanova, who’d most recently wooed a woman seriously, and that was so long ago he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten her to date him in the first place.

“She was my first love,” he mused aloud. “I think.”

The trio of girls sitting with him at the cafe table tittered, and the bravest, a tall brunette with catlike eyes who went by Taozi, joked “What were you, 12?”

The table dissolved into giggles again when Minseok’s expression turned comically thoughtful and he winked back at her.

“Sounds about right,” he agreed, grinning good-naturedly and letting Suhee’s friends have their fun. If that’s what it took to get their help in convincing Suhee that he was serious about dating her, Minseok was willing enough to sit through a few lighthearted jokes at his expense.

“Seriously, though,” Kristina, another one of Suhee’s friends spoke up. “Luhan really told you to act like an ass because women like bad boys?”

Minseok chuckled and nodded. “Actually, I believe his exact words were “Just be yourself, that’s close enough” but, yeah, basically.”

“Idiot,” Kristina huffed, and loudly too. “It’s no wonder you’ve come to us.”

“Your friends are useless,” concurred the third woman at the table, a lithe dancer affectionately called Hunnie her close friends and hordes of admirers alike.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Minseok half-heartedly disagreed. “I’d never have even met Suhee if Jongdae hadn’t introduced her to me at that party last semester.”

“Well, yeah,” Taozi accepted Minseok’s words with a dramatic eyeroll. “But you’d probably be dating Suhee already if not for their collectively bad advice.”

Minseok couldn’t argue with that, so he didn’t. Instead he smiled and acquiesced with a nod of his head in Taozi’s direction.

He added, “And hopefully I’ll soon be dating Suhee thanks to your collectively good advice.”

He emphasized the “good” in an attempt to get their conversation back on track and when Taozi leaned forward to say “Okay, so....” Minseok knew he’d been successful.

“Suhee smiles when you’re mentioned,” Taozi continued, “So we can assume you at least made a good first impression, correct?” She looked to Minseok for confirmation and he nodded again.

Technically Taozi’s assumption wasn’t entirely incorrect; she didn’t need to know that Minseok had stumbled all over himself to ask for Suhee’s number after their initial “Hello-s” and “Nice to meet you-s.” She'd looked practically edible with a feather nonchalantly tucked behind her ear and in that red dress with the slit that lead all the way up her thigh toward heaven. Minseok just hadn't known what to say.

Thankfully she'd thought Minseok was adorable enough to give up her digits despite his temporary loss of coherent speech.

Thankfully she'd also been gracious enough to accept his apology when he 1) went home with someone else that night because Luhan said that showing her you're sexually desirable piques her interest; and 2) didn’t text her with his number for another three days after that because his idiot friends—Jongdae and Baekhyun this time—told him that women don't like it if you're too eager.

But, Minseok decided, Taozi didn't need to know that.

“In that case,” Kristina continued the discussion, picking up where Taozi left off, “have you tried just asking her out?”

Internally, Minseok blanched. Externally, he smiled sheepishly in silent apology and Kristina, reading his expression correctly, grimaced back at him.

“She hasn't said no, has she?”

This question was directed more to her friends than to Minseok as Kristina clearly wanted to confirm that, in trying to help Minseok, they weren't inadvertently setting Suhee up with a creeper.

“Um,” Minseok dithered as he tried to decide how much to share, “Not exactly?”

When Hunnie raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at that response, Minseok chose absolute honesty and pressed on. “She suggested coffee like a week after we met, but I told her last minute that I forgot about a term paper I had due so we rain-checked. After that we just never rescheduled.”

The coffee idea had been Suhee’s teasing response to Minseok’s apology. She’d replied with something along the lines of a coy and flirty “Why don't you make it up to me, then?” And here he'd gone and ruined it. Or, well, Luhan had helped—and Kristina, as evidently aware of Luhan as Luhan was of himself, knew it too.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion; Minseok gulped.

“I see Luhan’s handiwork in this,” mused Kristina with a frown. “Let me guess:” she adopted a slightly deeper voice and a deceptively angelic expression, “The man has to be the one to ask the girl out. If she beats you to it, beat her down.”

The language was vaguely archaic, but the gist was entirely too correct for Minseok’s liking. When said out loud, and by an actual woman, he could see how such advice was actually terrible and uncomfortably misogynistic. In the moment, though, when Minseok had been freaking out over the fact that such a goddess was actually flirting with him—of course, this is the excuse he gave Suhee’s friends when all three of them turned to him with matching looks of fond exasperation—Luhan’s guidance had seemed not only perfectly reasonable, but also quite wise to someone who hadn’t had a real date in years.

“I’m not surprised she smiles when you're mentioned,” Taozi reiterated with a sigh, though Minseok thought she was obviously holding back a smile. “This whole situation is ridiculous.” She paused and let the smile take over fully. “You're ridiculous.”

Flashing a peace sign, Minseok grinned at her as cutely as he could and the girls all laughed. He liked them, he decided, and he was glad that, should Suhee take his feelings seriously, he’d be spending more time with them in the future.

“I’ll have you ladies know that I am usually quite calm and collected,” he defended himself, still grinning. “But I am going out of my way to woo your friend; there’s no need to laugh at my efforts.” With conscious effort Minseok transformed his grin into a pout, puffing his cheeks and peering up through his eyelashes at Suhee’s friends as pitifully as he could.

Taozi rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re ridiculous,” she said again. “Remind me again why we’re helping you?”

“Because Luhan’s tired of hearing me mope and gave me Kristina’s number to shut me up. And we both know none of you would be here if Kristina didn’t think I was serious.”

Seemingly content with Minseok’s answer, Taozi took a slow sip of her citrus tea, swallowed, then said, “Fair enough. Won’t keep me from laughing at your terrible attempts to win Suhee over, though.”

Hunnie spoke up for the first time in a while, her hand raised. “I won’t laugh. Probably.” She smiled at him and Minseok hated that he couldn’t tell whether or not she was serious. “Although, I will hit you if you actually took Luhan’s advice and really did beat Suhee down.”

Well...he hadn’t done so literally, but part of Luhan’s imparted wisdom had been that compliments were tantamount to an admission of masculine weakness, so Minseok should use his flattery sparingly, if at all. For once, thankfully, Minseok hadn’t listened, and had been overflowing with offhanded compliments ever since he’d declined Suhee’s initial invitation. They hadn’t done him much good in the long run, considering their rain-checked coffee date was nearly three months ago and last semester, but Minseok liked to think that Suhee was appreciative of his randomly texted “Hello beautiful-s” and “Hope you’re having a good day-s.”

She hadn’t told him to stop, at least, and she apparently hadn’t told her friends that Minseok was a weirdo either. Minseok took these all as good signs that she didn’t hate him yet, and said as much in response to Hunnie’s probing curiosity.

“I’ve never once been anything but respectful,” he added, thinking back to another reason why he’d never actually asked her out after the incident of the abandoned coffee date. Despite what Jongdae and Baekhyun insisted was totally acceptable, Minseok definitely didn’t think that asking a girl out for dinner over text was particularly respectful. Since he’d never managed to see Suhee again except for brief encounters on campus as they each went to and from classes, Minseok hadn’t gotten a chance to ask her out in person and, therefore, had never asked her out at all.

“Not that that’s an excuse or anything,” he amended when Taozi put her tea down and crossed her arms over her chest defensively after he clarified his comment about being respectful. “But something the guys did keep saying is that she’s way out of my league, and that I can definitely agree with. I just feel like Suhee deserves the best and that I’ve never had the opportune moment to offer that.”

To his surprise, it was Kristina who shook her head. “Your friends are still idiots, you know,” she told him gently. “Nothing is more attractive than a man who’s comfortable in his own skin. Someone told you you’re not good enough? Prove them wrong. Someone told you she’s out of your league? Be your best self and show that person that you’re just as deserving of someone wonderful as she is. Frankly,” Kristina concluded, her rant winding down, “if you be yourself, and a gentleman, and you’re open and accepting of who she is, that’s good enough for me.”

Minseok appreciated her words, truly he did, but he still wasn’t entirely convinced that she was right. “But what about Suhee,” he argued, growing vaguely despondent, “is that good enough for her?”

Taozi, who was the closest, unfolded her arms and put a comforting hand on Minseok’s. “Suhee appreciates thoughtful effort. She’s the most oblivious person I know, but some things do get through to her, and a man who goes after what he wants with integrity is someone she’ll notice.”

“Not,” Hunnie tittered as she rejoined the conversation, “someone who listens to the dumb advice of his friends and does everything wrong when trying to get her attention.”

Minseok didn’t point out that he’d already snagged her attention that first time they’d met at the party last semester. He also didn’t point out that every time he sent his compliments and cheer-up messages to Suhee over text, she responded with a mix of blushing and smiling emojis that always had Minseok wanting to text her back. He never did, worried that further contact would scare her away with its inadequacy, but he always wanted to and that had to count for something, right?

Thankfully, her friends all agreed that it did, which is why they’d even agreed to meet with him at this cafe in the first place. His original text to Kristina had been somewhat embarrassingly desperate, but after sitting through the past 45 minutes with the three women across from him, Minseok couldn’t help thinking the embarrassment, like the earlier teasing at his expense, was definitely worth it.

“Okay, okay,” he said then, resolved at last to just go after Suhee as best he could and hope that she’d return his interest. “So we’ve established that my friends are dumb and that I’m dumb for listening to them in the first place. And we’ve established that Suhee doesn’t think I’m a creep and isn’t necessarily against the idea of dating me.”

He paused to remember if he’d left anything out and Hunnie piped up helpfully, “And we’ve established that you should have just asked her out when you met her since you’ve been gone for her since then but are at least smart enough to know that texting to ask her to dinner is a bad idea.”

Minseok’s eyebrows furrowed as he considered this. “I mean, yeah, I guess? That was never stated explicitly but you’re not wrong. I am totally gone on her.”

An abrupt change in Hunnie expression clued Minseok in to a new arrival at their table, right as a pleasantly soft and feminine voice inquired, “Who are you totally gone over?”

Minseok whirled around, squeaking out a flustered “Suhee!” and waving weakly when she smiled at him. He could hear someone, he thought it was probably Taozi, subduing her laughter behind him and there was a part of his subconscious that wondered if he’d been set up. This thought was confirmed when someone, definitely Taozi this time, whisper-yelled “Get out of your own way, Minseok. Fighting!” and then engaged the other two of Suhee’s friends in an obvious attempt to leave Minseok and Suhee on their own.

“Um,” Minseok floundered awkwardly and found himself at a loss for words. It was like everything he’d just been taught on how to woo Suhee just disappeared when she actually appeared before him, and now all he could do was stare at her like the idiot his friends assumed him to be. “Hi?” he eventually managed, his second greeting coming out like a question and not alleviating his embarrassment at all.

Thankfully—and Minseok was starting to realize just how often he was thankful where Suhee was concerned—Suhee continued to smile like she was actually pleased to see him, and laughed ethereally when he said hi. “Hello,” she returned his greeting sweetly and, obviously noting his inability to speak, took pity by asking if he wanted to walk over to the counter with her so she could order a drink.

“Offer to pay!” Kristina, following Taozi’s lead apparently, whisper-yelled after them when Minseok nodded eagerly and took the lead toward the counter.

“I was already going to!” he turned back over his shoulder to whisper-yell back at her, temporarily forgetting Suhee’s presence just behind him and finding himself suddenly face to face with her. For the first time since she’d appeared in the cafe, their eyes met, and it was like the first time they’d met all over again. Minseok was blown away by how beautiful Suhee was and he couldn’t help it when he accidentally said that thought aloud.

“Breathtaking,” he murmured, just barely loud enough for Suhee to hear him and respond with another of her brilliant smiles.

“I like you too, you know,” she told him, amusement coloring her tone as she watched his expression transform from enraptured to purely shocked. “And I’m not as unobservant as everyone says, either.”

With a wink at Minseok’s still gaping face, she leaned closer and whispered, her lips against his ear, “But your friends are still idiots.”

Minseok, breath caught in his throat over Suhee’s sheer proximity, let alone the softness of her mouth on his skin, gulped audibly but smirked slightly when he whispered back, “Or maybe not.”


End file.
